Mark Renson
New member
<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 1/3/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>Hopped on The Single bright 'n early, but not early enough to beat 2 patrollers who skied Paradise at midnight and Jay who skied Antelope & Porcupine at the same time. First assignment of my patrolling duties was to inspect Fall Line - some bare spots, but not as bad as advertised. Porcupine was a nice cruiser, as well. No grooming was done the prior evening and conditions were a pleasant skier packed packed powder. Found great snow on Panther once I got by the gnarly headwall and Quacky had great snow, as usual. Catamount Bowl followed by the Antelope/Catamount braids has been my favourite run so far this year and conditions were great on this day (1/1/00). Last run of day was on sweep where I patrolled the Catamount chute - that unmarked narrow shot past the main Catamount entrance that funnels into the Catamount Bowl. Great snow was found, but damage from Hurricane Floyd (September) made it seem so different from what I had remembered. <BR> <BR>Next day started out fine - first run was Quacky followed by patrolling Robin/Wren. But ominous clouds rolled in and at about 10:30AM, drops started to fall. The mountain slowly melted and snow became rotten (not to be confused with rOtten). Making turns and just pointing 'em downhill became a strenuous chore. I closed down Moody's per the Patrol Director's directive. Snow became so rotten that the double was shut down at 3:30. Day-end sweep was a challenge as we collected much bamboo - carrying heavy loads on skis through heavy snow was a challenge. When we got to Waterfall, little was left and I was challenged to pick up 2 more pieces of 'boo standing amongst the moguls, rocks, bare spots and mud. I got a good chuckle out of this and I'm sure the others did too ..... but I gotta' admit, it was fun as I navigated through the various hazards carrying a beefy, awkward load. <BR> <BR>Mountain looked sad when I left - need the candy from the heavens.